


My Greatest Masterpiece

by Musewriter777



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: College AU, Fluff, Love, M/M, Romance, Surprises, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, eren and petra are just mentioned in here, jeanmarco, seriously like cotton candy fluff, with like two sentences of angst because i'm apparently incapable of writing fluff without it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-19
Updated: 2020-04-19
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:15:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23692984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Musewriter777/pseuds/Musewriter777
Summary: Jean was basically born an artist. He's created countless paintings and even had his first solo showing at Maria University. However, there's one more masterpiece he wants to create before he graduates, and he needs Marco for it.
Relationships: Marco Bott/Jean Kirstein
Comments: 4
Kudos: 29





	My Greatest Masterpiece

**Author's Note:**

  * For [dat_heichou](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dat_heichou/gifts).



> This fic is a b-day present for the lovely dat_heichou. Hope you enjoy, hun!

He peered down at his watch. 7:25 pm. Marco still hadn't shown. Jean knew he'd be at least a little late, but he didn't expect this.

_Hope he's okay._

No sooner had he thought that when he saw headlights shine through the falling snow. He perked up when he recognized the familiar blue sedan pulling into the spot right in front of the door. Strolling towards it, he chuckled as he saw Marco all but tumble out of the driver's seat in a hurry, sloppily throwing on his coat.

"This goofball," Jean muttered under his breath. "What took you so long?" he said as he held the door open for Marco.

"Sorry, Jean," Marco exhaled as he bounded through the door. "We had some set malfunctions and had to get those straight before leaving rehearsal."

"And people say theater's boring."

"Yea, no kidding." Marco stopped and looked around the empty hall littered with all kinds of oil and acrylic paintings on display. "Okay I know I'm late, but," he turned back to face Jean. "Where is everybody?"

Jean smirked and started walking ahead of him; Marco followed. "So the actual showcase ended an hour ago."

"A whole hour?!? Jean I-"

"Hold on," Jean waved his hand to cut him off. "You're fine, really."

"No, I'm not! How are you not even upset right now?"

"Cuz that's not what I wanted you here for."

Marco raised an eyebrow. "Okay, then what is it?"

Jean rounded a corner and walked to the door diagonally across from him, pulling a set of keys out of his pocket. "All the works in progress are kept in here." He unlocked the door and entered the room, Marco following a few feet behind.

"So you wanted to give me...a behind the scenes tour or something?" Marco asked, looking around the room. He couldn't make out much, the only light coming from the moon outside.

Jean walked further into the room sporting a smile. "Not quite, but there is something I want you to see." He walked over to a covered easel by one of the windows. When Marco caught up to him, he removed the cloth and stood to the side. Marco squinted and leaned forward. Jean chuckled, "Hold on, genius."

"Well you didn't turn on the light when we got in here."

"Cuz I didn't want you to guess what it was."

"Jean, how could I-" Marco stopped short when Jean flicked on the light. What stood in front of him was his own face painted in a rainbow of watercolors, a green flower blooming over the left side of his face. Marco was breathless.

"So does that silence mean you like it?" Jean asked as he sauntered back over.

"Jean," Marco responded breathless. "This is gorgeous. I love it."

"I mean, it still doesn't beat the real thing, but it turned out pretty nice."

"Oh shut up," Marco laughed as he stretched a hand out to trace his jawline on the painting. "How long did it take you to make this?"

"A few weeks, actually."

"Why so long? Wasn't this part of your senior exhibit?"

"No, this one I did on my own. Ms. Ral just let me work on it when I had finished my other pieces."

"Oh wow." Marco blinked and turned to face Jean. "So is that why you had so many meltdowns the past few months?"

"Yea, I...kinda let my ambition get the better of me."

"And you still say you're not like Eren," he teased.

Jean groaned, "Can we not bring him up right now?"

Marco shook his head and looked back at the painting. "So where's this gonna go?"

"Wherever you want; it's yours."

"Marco whipped his head toward Jean. "Seriously?!?"

"Yea, babe. It's all yours." He grabbed both sides of his face and kissed him, which would have been a lot more romantic for Jean if Marco still didn't have his mouth partially open. 

"Jean, I...I don't...thank you."

"No prob. You got room for it in your car? I have room in mine if you don't."

"No, I got it," Marco replied as he picked up the painting. He held it gingerly, as if it could tear with the slightest movement. Jean smiled, happy that Marco loved it. His heart began to beat faster as they walked out of the room. 

"I gotta lock up, so don't head out just yet."

"Okay." Jean could tell Marco was still enamored with his painting. He wondered when he would see what was written on the back, though.

As he strolled to meet Marco near the entrance, he caught him looking at the painting strangely before flipping it around. 

_Well, it's now or never._

"J-Jean?"

"Yea?"

"Did you mean all this?"

"Mean what?" he questioned, trying to keep his voice steady.

"That I'm your 'muse' and 'one of the best things that's ever happened to you'?"

"And 'my anchor, my light, and, hopefully..." Jean stopped a few feet away from him. "My future." Marco stared at him, mouth agape. He continued, "Remember how I used to not communicate as much when we started dating?"

"Jean, we don't have to bring that up again. You've gotten so much better at it."

"I know, and I wanna keep doing better. I don't want you to ever doubt how I feel about you, Marco, certainly not now. I-" He cleared his throat as he choked up. "I wanna spend the rest of my life with you. So," he dropped down on one knee as he pulled a small box out of his pocket. "Will y-" he was cut off when the frame of the painting smacked him in the forehead.

"Oh I'm so sorry!" Marco exclaimed as he went to retrieve it. "I just...you...I wasn't expecting this."

"And I wasn't expecting a painting to the face, but here we are" Jean chuckled as he rubbed his forehead. "Anyway," he opened the box to reveal a silver ring with emeralds in the middle. "will you marry me?"

Marco stared at the ring for a moment, to Jean's unease. "Uh, you can say no, if this was too-"

Marco laid down the painting and tackled him in a hug, almost knocking him over. Jean steadied himself by putting his free hand behind him. "Why would you ever think I would say no?" Marco sobbed. He leaned back to make eye contact with Jean, tears at the corners of his eyelids. "Of course I will."

It was Jean's turn to hug him back. They couldn't say how long they held each other; they only knew their arms and backs were hurting when they let go. Jean put the ring on Marco's finger. It wasn't much to see with only the light of the moon and street lamps shining through the front windows, but Marco was still dazzled by it. He sighed and shook his head.

"What is it?" Jean asked, eyebrow raised.

"Nothing, I just..." Marco reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a box of his own. "You beat me to it."

Jean's eyes grew wider as Marco opened the box in front of it to see an amber-studded ring. "Why the hell are we like this?" he chuckled.

"No clue." Marco grabbed his hand and placed the ring on his finger. Jean admired it before shaking his head. "Guess we better head out, huh?" Marco outstretched his hand.

"Yea," Jean responded, taking his hand. Marco picked the painting back up as they strolled out together, hand in hand.

_Marco, at first you were just this nerdy, cute kid who sat on the opposite side of Sina Politics 101. Now, you've become more to me than you know. You're the rock who keeps me steady, the anchor that keeps me grounded, my muse for when life gets so hectic I can't find the reason to create anything, and my future._

Jean had created numerous paintings since he got into art in middle school. He was praised at every level by many people, including Marco. While he considered Marco a work of art himself, there was one thing he wanted to create out of him: a smile of pure joy like nothing else mattered. And his reaction to his proposal?

Well, that was his greatest masterpiece.

**Author's Note:**

> Welp, there it is, folks. Dat_heichou, you wanted to be buried in fluff, so I delivered lol. It was fun writing our bois; keep forgetting how much I miss them. Merry birthmas!


End file.
